Shooting Kanda River Cherry Blossoms with a Fuji 35mm f/1.4

I photographed the Kanda River cherry blossoms again in 2020. That year, I had planned to photograph some new places. But due to the pandemic, that didn’t happen. It was a disastrous flower photography season. At least I had something close to home to fall back on.

In retrospect, I was lucky. Traveling far by train wasn’t an option for obvious reasons. The further you go, the greater the chance of contracting the disease. That left me with local places. And that meant the Kanda River, where it flowed past Takaido Station.

After returning from work that day, I had lunch and worked on this blog. Then I grabbed my camera and headed to the river. I enjoyed my time there. The flowers were in full bloom and looked great.

Using a street photography lens for sakura

This time, I did something different. I used a prime lens, the Fujifilm XF 35 mm f/1.4 R lens. That was something I’d never done before. It proved to be a good choice as it was so small and light, I could shoot one-handed. It was a good break from using the heavy 16-55 mm.

I zoomed with my feet, not spending time fiddling with the zoom ring. That actually saved me some time. I wasn’t able to reach the highest flowers in the trees of course. All in all, it was a different shooting experience.

Few people were along the river that day. A few people in suits were making their way home, and a few joggers were running. But, there were almost no mothers with kids, older people, or school children along the paths as in previous years. I’m assuming, but I’ll say coronavirus was the reason. It kept people indoors.

Challenges of overcast sakura photography

While the flowers looked good, the weather was a drawback. It wasn’t even a cool day, but a layer of drab clouds was above. That created problems with the white flowers, since the sky was either white or grey.

One option was to replace the sky with something blue, but I don’t like doing that. It’s a form of deception in this kind of photography. The only other option I had was to suck it up and leave it as is. I was loath to do that, but I couldn’t see any other way out.

Editing Fuji X-T2 images in Adobe Lightroom

As I already mentioned, in 2020 I shot with a Fujifilm, in this case an X-T2. The X-series gave users a series of Film simulations. They were digital color profiles in Fujifilm cameras that emulated the nostalgic aesthetics of their classic analog film stocks. This time I didn’t use one. I only used the options that Adobe Lightroom gave me. My main choice was the color mixer which got me the look I wanted in my images.

Kanda River cherry blossoms: 2020 vs. today

Just to let you know, I first published these photos in July 2022. At this time of republishing (in 2026) they look different. I heard that some disease got into them, and many branches were lopped off. Look at [The Transformation of the Kanda River Sakura] to find out why.

How to get to Kanda River (Takaido Station)

Take the Keio-Inokashira Line to Takaido Station. You can see the river and trees on the south side of the station. It’s only a two-minute walk away.

My photography gear for this shoot

• Camera body: Fujifilm X-T2
• Fujifilm lens: Fujifilm XF 35 mm f/1.4 R lens

Do you have a favorite local photo spot for cherry blossoms? Or are you a prime lens lover? Learn more on the official Fuji 35mm f/1.4 website.